UK Viewers Will Be Able To Stream The First Lady After All

It has been a while coming. Back in Nov. 2021, Showtime gave a sneak-peek of its highly anticipated series The First Lady, and us UK viewers have been waiting ever since. First announced in 2019, the 10-episode series stars Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford, and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt. It will follow their personal and political lives as the three women made history as some of America’s most “charismatic, complex, and dynamic First Ladies,” per the broadcaster’s synopsis. But how can you watch The First Lady in the UK?

Well, it hasn’t been an easy wait. The First Lady premiered in the U.S. on April 17, but a UK streaming service was not confirmed. Until now. The First Lady will air on Paramount+ when the service debuts in the UK later this summer. According to Metro, The First Lady will be one of over 400 shows made available on the platform.

As for what you can expect from the series, The First Lady’s showrunner Cathy Schulman described Pfeiffer’s portrayal of Betty as “beautiful, brittle, vulnerable and strong”, with its director Susanne Bier saying there’s “kind of a poetic quality” to the actor. As for Davis, Showtime Entertainment president Jana Winograde said it was a “dream come true” for the actor to play Michelle.

Alongside Davis, Pfeiffer, and Anderson, The First Lady has a star-studded cast including the likes of Kiefer Sutherland (Designated Survivor, The Fugitive) as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Aaron Eckhart (Rabbit Hole, Wander) as Gerald Ford, and O-T Fagbenle (Black Widow, The Handmaid’s Tale) as Barack Obama.

The series also stars Eliza Scanlen (Little Women, Sharp Objects) as a young Eleanor Roosevelt, Cailee Spaeny (Mare of Easttown) as Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Dakota Fanning (The Alienist, Gen: Lock) as Susan Elizabeth Ford, Saniyya Sidney (King Richard, Fences) as Sasha Obama, and Lexi Underwood (Little Fires Everywhere, Acting for a Cause) as Malia Obama.